Floods bring misery to central Europe

Trees are submerged in the waters of the Elbe River in Schoenhausen, Germany, on Wednesday, June 12. Heavy rain has left rivers swollen across Central Europe.

People salvage items from their house, which was flooded by the Danube River, in Dunakeszi, Hungary, on June 12.

A man empties a bucket of water in front of his house in Hohnstorf, Germany, on June 12.

Residents stand in front of a house that was hit by floodwaters from the Danube River in Fischerdorf, Germany, on Tuesday, June 11.

Floodwaters from the Elbe River inundate a yard with a swimming pool near Magdeburg, Germany, on Monday, June 10.

The embankment at the Pest side of Budapest is flooded on June 10. Emergency services and volunteers worked through the night in Hungary as floodwaters threatened towns and villages.

A man walks in high water from the Elbe River in Meissen, Germany, on Sunday, June 9.

Greenpeace activists walk in floodwaters from the Danube at the Chain Bridge in Budapest on June 9.

Soldiers prepare a makeshift flood barrier on Margareth Island in the Hungarian capital of Budapest on June 9.

A resident wades to a neighbor's house on a flooded street near the swollen Elbe River on Friday, June 7, in Elster, Germany.

A man walks through the mud in the village of Fischerdorf near Deggendorf, southern Germany, on June 7.

Chewbaca sits among groceries and bottles of butane in a rubber raft as his owner pulls him through a flooded street near the swollen Elbe River on June 7.

Members of the emergency services inspect a road washed away by flood water near Loebnitz, eastern Germany, on June 7.

The Inn, left, and Danube rivers flood parts of the historic city of Passau, Germany, on Thursday, June 6.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Reiner Haseloff, right, premier of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, speak with volunteers about building a sandbag barrier near Lake Goitzsche in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, on June 6.

Residents and their pets take refuge from the flooding in a shelter in Bitterfield, Germany, on June 6.

Volunteers fill sandbags to protect Dresden, Germany, from rising floodwaters of the Elbe River on June 6.

The Elbe floods the historic city center of Meissen, Germany, on June 6.

Volunteers stack sandbags as the Saale River overruns parts of Calbe, Germany, on June 6.

Elbe River floodwaters rise over statues across from the Semper Opera House in Dresden, Germany, on June 6.

A flood container storage facility in Riesa, Germany, on Wednesday, June 5.

A neighborhood submerged in the River Danube in Straubing, Germany, on June 5.

Residents of Dresden, Germany, evacuate due to rising floodwaters of the River Elbe on June 5.

Flooded streets in Decin, northern Bohemia, on June 5.

German Lifesaving Society workers drive through the flooded area of Deggendorf, Germany, on June 5.

A woman peers out onto the street flooded by the River Danube in Passau, Germany, on June 5.

Submerged cars peak out of the flood in Deggendorf, Germany.

A man walks near a flood protection wall in Bratislavas, Slovakia, on June 5.

A house flooded by the River Danube near Deggendorf, Germany, on June 5.

A woman cleans mud from the footpath in front of her house following flooding along the Inn River in Schaerding, Austria, on Wednesday, June 5. Rising rivers menaced swaths of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria on Tuesday, as floodwaters inundated historic cities and forced mass evacuations of low-lying areas.

Residents transport sandbags to build a flood wall in a street flooded by the Elbe River in Dresden, Germany, on June 5.

A women crosses a makeshift bridge over flooded streets in Unterloiben, Austria, on Tuesday, June 4.

A cat seeks dry ground after flooding from the Vltava River in Kly, Czech Republic, on June 4.

A resident adds a tarp to a restaurant on June 4, to help prevent damage from rising floodwaters from the nearby Elbe River in Pirna, Germany.

An aerial view shows the flooded Prague Zoo on June 4 in the Czech Republic.

Volunteers and soldiers stack sandbags on June 4 to strengthen a dam of the rising Saale River on the outskirts in Halle, Germany.

People canoe in the flooded city of Wehlen, Germany, on June 4.

Some streets are underwater in the old city in Passau, Germany, on Monday, June 3, due to heavy and ongoing rainfall.

Onlookers watch the water rise around houses on the Vltava River in Prague. The Vltava was cresting Tuesday in the Czech capital, but areas downstream still faced rising waters.

Czech soldiers erect metal barriers on the banks of the Vltava River in Prague's Holesovice district.

A traffic sign is surrounded by the flooded Berounka River on the outskirts of Prague on June 3.

Firefighters evacuate local residents in Zeitz, Germany, on June 3 from a street flooded the night before by the nearby Weisse Elster River.

The swollen Inn River rushes through downtown Passau, Germany, on June 3.

A rescuer navigates through an flooded street in Passau, Germany.

Czech army personnel build flood barriers on the bank of the flooded Vltava River in Prague. Transportation was severely disrupted in Prague, as well as other parts of Bohemia, according to a spokeswoman for the Czech Fire Department.

Firefighters and helpers evacuate citizens in the flooded city center in Grimma, Germany.

Floodwaters surround a restaurant in Prague on June 3.

Streets in Passau, Germany, were flooded after the River Danube topped a centuries-old record.

A woman wades through a flooded street in Passau, Germany, on June 3.

Evacuees forced to flee the rising floodwaters of the Weisse Elster River sit on mattresses at an evacuation center in a school gymnasium in Zeitz, Germany, on June 3.

Floodwaters cover a road in Prague on June 3.

Subway escalators stand empty in a train station in Prague on Sunday, June 2.

A statue by British sculptor Kaivalya Torpy depicting Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy is partially submerged by the rising waters of the Vltava River on June 2 in downtown Prague.

The floods are feared to be the worst since 2002, when parts of Germany and the Czech Republic were devastated and communities in Austria, Slovakia, Russia and Romania were affected.

Seven deaths have been reported in the Czech Republic, while southern and eastern areas of Germany, including Bavaria and Saxony, are also badly impacted by recent heavy rains.

Images from Passau, a city in southern Bavariawhere the Danube River is joined by two other rivers, show dirty brown water running through the streets of the historic old town after water levels passed a 500-year-old record.

Floodwaters in Bavaria are now receding but the crest on the Danube continues east into Austria and could threaten cities such as Vienna, in Austria, and Bratislava, in Slovakia, said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.

Large parts of Meissen, a town built on the banks of the Elbe River in Saxony, were also inundated after flood defenses were breached overnight Monday to Tuesday.

Those with homes and businesses were moving valuables and trying to sandbag their properties to protect them from the rising waters as the town's evacuation was ordered.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited towns in the region Tuesday and promised 100 million euros ($130 million) in emergency aid for affected areas.

The German military, government agencies and local authorities are helping with efforts to evacuate residents and protect properties.

The heaviest rain fell over Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland and the western Czech Republic from Saturday through Monday, with total rainfall over those days well over 3 inches for many locations, said Miller.

Salzburg in Austria recorded its entire monthly average of rainfall (155 millimeters, or 6.1 inches) in only the first two days of the month, he said.

The high waters also will have an impact on businesses beyond the communities directly affected by flooding.

The region's rivers are important in the transportation of freight and people, providing thousands of kilometers of navigable channels, as well as supporting agriculture, power generation and tourism.

Water levels have peaked in the Czech capital, Prague, but places downstream in the Czech Republic and along the Elbe River in Germany are still at risk.

A state of emergency is in place in most of Bohemia, the western part of the country, said Nicole Zaoralova, a spokeswoman for the Czech Fire Department.

Seven people have died as a result of the latest flooding, she said. Among the victims, two people died in a house collapse, one woman died when she was hit by a falling tree and another person was electrocuted.

Most of northern Bohemia, around the Vltava and Labe rivers, remains at risk of flooding, she said.

"We have evacuated 10,000 people so far," said Zaoralova.

In Usti nad Labem, in northern Bohemia, many households are without electricity. Melnik, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Prague, was being evacuated Tuesday morning.

The Berounka River, which flows into the Vltava, peaked overnight, prompting officials to raise anti-flood barriers in Prague to a level intended to cope with "100-year" floods.

So far, however, the Vltava River has not reached the level of the devastating floods of 11 years ago, Zaoralova said.

Transportation is severely disrupted in the capital, Prague, as well as other parts of Bohemia, she said. But while several metro stations in Prague have been closed, the subway system has not been flooded as it was in 2002, she said, thanks to a flood barrier system put in place since then.

"We do not expect the situation in Prague to become worse," she said.

Rainfall in Prague has already totaled more than 102 millimeters in June, more than the city's monthly average of 73 millimeters, Miller said.

Zoo animals moved to safety

Staff at the Prague Zoo also swung into action as the risk of flooding became apparent.

Zoo director Miroslav Bobek said the animals had been moved from the entire lower part of the zoo, which lies by the Vltava River, to other enclosures on higher ground.

"Hundreds of animals were evacuated, including large cats, tapirs, the whole monkey pavilion and the gorillas," he said in a statement.

"The gorillas' pavilion includes a special 'flood tower' that has been built specifically for moments like this, because the pavilion is situated directly by the River Vltava."

Most of the gorillas were lured to the safety of the tower using food, but the oldest male had to be tranquilized and carried up there after he refused to move, he said.

Two small birds drowned in one exhibit but the other animals were saved, he said.

"We are now working with other zoos in the Czech Republic to see where we can place animals that won't be able to return to their pavilions soon," Bobek added.

The zoo is expected to reopen Wednesday. The flood damage is currently estimated to cost 160 million Czech Koruna ($8.1 million.)

The zoo was hit badly during the 2002 floods, when several animals, including an elephant, died. Since then, anti-flood barriers have been built.

Volunteers fill sand bags

Prague resident Katerina Netikova has spent the past two days helping volunteer efforts to stave off the worst of the flooding, coordinated by authorities and local people using social media.

On Sunday, she headed to the suburban town of Radotin, on the Berounka River, where residents directed the efforts.

"They knew exactly what is needed, where people should go and what should they do. They had the experience from previous flooding (in 2002). They were securing the town, putting barriers where needed," Netikova told CNN.

On Monday, she spent the night working at a fire station in central Prague, near the worst affected areas of the Holesovice neighborhood, helping to make flood barriers -- heavy-duty tube-shaped sacks filled with sand.

"It's hard work, because the sand is wet and gets really heavy," Netikova said. "People were rotating the whole night -- students from nearby university halls, Scouts, local people and more volunteers sent in by the town.

"The firefighters just told them what to do, and then the volunteers organized everything among themselves."

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported from Meissen and Ivana Kottasova reported from London, where Laura Smith-Spark reported and wrote. CNN's Stephanie Halasz and Sarah Brown also contributed to this report.